Three MCS Cases Occurring in Different Synoptic Environments in the Sub-Sahelian Wet Zone during the 2002 West African Monsoon

Abstract

Three mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) occurring in the sub-Sahelian wet zone of West Africa are examined using observations from the 2002 Integrated Approach to the Efficient Management of Scarce Water Resources in West Africa (IMPETUS) field campaign, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analyses, and Meteosat infrared imagery. These datasets enable the analysis of the synoptic-scale environment in which the MCSs were embedded, along with a high-resolution monitoring of surface parameters during the systems? passages. The available data imply that cases I and II were of a squall-type nature. Case I propagated into a moderately sheared and rather moist lower and middle troposphere over the Upper Ouémé Valley (UOV). In contrast, case II was associated with a well-sheared and dry lower troposphere and a large, moist instability. In either case, behind the convective cluster a westward-propagating cyclonic vorticity maximum that was likely captured by the ECMWF analysis as a result of the special upper-air station at Parakou (Benin). In case I, the fast-moving vorticity signal slowed down over the Guinean Highlands where convection dissipated. Farther downstream, it might have played a role in the consolidation of an African easterly waves (AEW) trough over the West African coast and the eastern Atlantic. Case III proved to be a more stationary pattern of convection associated with a vortex in the monsoon flow. It also exhibited a moist and low shear environment.